Simian virus (SV40) is one of the best characterized viruses and its DNA genome has been widely studied. The first attempts to apply recombinant DNA technology to introduce DNA segments ito animal cells have utilized SV40 as the vector. SV40 is also ideal as a vector because of its ability to transform cells from a wide variety of species. This means the SV40 recombinants can introduce foreign genetic information into cultued cells, or even animals, in a stable fashion.
Earlier work has formed the recombinants by in vitro manipulations. The present invention forms the recombinants by cloning in E. coli. This is decidedly quicker and cheaper. This is because bacterial clones (e.g., for colony hybridization) can be grown up in a few hours on inexpensive agar plates. In contrast, an SV40 plaque assay on monkey cells can take as long as two weeks and requires expensive tissue culture media, serum, a carbon dioxide incubator, etc.